#worklifebalance

Comrades, do just enough to get paid and nothing more. This place is a sinking ship and they’ll throw you to the sharks long before you are given a seat on a lifeboat. Spend more time with your family. Take long walks before the sun goes down. Medtronic will not take care of you. Only you can do that.

Guess I am no longer reachable outside work hours. Nice.

I honestly can't decide if that's a good or a bad thing.

Takis posed the following in the townhall regarding this topic:

Do you enjoy coming to work every day?
Do you enjoy the people you are working with?
Do you feel that you have a future here?
Does the company value subject matter expertise?
Am I getting paid fairly?

The answer to all of these for me is a resounding NO! What about the rest of you?

To be fair to the people I work with… it’s a small handful of peers that are impossible to work with, a few that aren’t contributing nearly enough, and the VP and up leadership chain that is making work life miserable for everyone

too many of you are stressing over stuff you have no control over. This place is on a death spiral. Thats it. Try to enjoy what you can and absolutely dont go nuts with work. The only way this place changes is when its gone and fully liquidated.

the market it brutal now, so stay on the ship for as long as you can, until your name gets called. while the severance is pathetic, its something and you will be able to collect unemployment.

grow careers! (from stressed out e execs who Only want to hear that you’re going to work extra hours to get them off one of the thousands of naughty lists that fiserv uses instead of management)
keep the list going:)

Since early 2021 we’ve been hit with massive inflation extremely high energy costs and what appears to be greed all around and grift and fraud.
Suffice it to say our money gets less bang for the buck.
Buying breakfast and lunch commuting in needing more and new shoes and clothes is destroying me.
I need a $5-10k raise to survive here in Massachusetts
And this new ft rto is ki-ling me I need one day a week where I do not need to commute in. I need that humanity humane time to get through this.
This is absurd just because Jamie dimon thought he was tough guy back then forcing his workers back in.
I really thought Fidelity was a step above.
Well I could not have been more incorrect.

There was a time when I would've defended this company without thinking twice. After everything that's changed, I don't have that same attachment anymore. The way employees are treated has made me much more careful about how much I give. Now I do my job, collect my paycheck, and keep some of myself for my life outside of work.

Is it normal to be expected to do 50-60 hour weeks?

Seriously considering telling Fido that I literally CANNOT absorb the extra financial cost of commuting to work every day when gas is projected to hit $6/gal. Is anyone else concerned about this? Sure, it’s fine if you live within a few miles but my commute is over an hour combined. How is this okay with Abby and why is no one doing anything about it?

"We no 1 in this , We're no 1 in that, We are market leaders, We have a broad portfolio"

The fatigue is real

How many times are they gonna make us portion update on our computer and have it automatically restart when we’re literally in the middle of something!?! I have a presentation in four minutes and all of a sudden, my computer just restarted with zero warning that I need to do an update of any sort! It’s ridiculous at this point.

The MN location I'm out - keeps getting areas reserved for group 'xyz'. And the tool to reserve cubes is never updated to reflect that. The notion that 'you can work in any office' that's close to you..... is a farce.

We’re 5x back in office since Sep 1. How’s it going? My manager just reminded me about attendance’ - he’s remote btw!

I hate going into the office but not landed a remote role yet despite interviewing. So, my act of defiance is coffee badging and maybe spending 1-2 hours about twice a week for ‘visibility’.

There’s zero in-person collaboration or meetings. So much for ‘culture’!

Or their job? Or are we all on the hate train by now?

I came here five years ago expecting to build some useful experience and move forward. Instead, I've spent a lot of time doing repetitive work with systems that feel years behind where the industry is headed. The hours are long and the pressure is constant, but there's very little sense that you're building toward something. Raises are abysmal and don't really make up for the rising cost of living. Promotions are limited, and sometimes it feels as though there isn't even a path to develop into something different. Management doesn't exactly make the situation easier. After enough time doing the same tasks, you start worrying about your skills becoming outdated too. That's probably what bothers me most. It's one thing to work hard for a while when you know you're gaining something from it, and it's another thing to feel exhausted and stuck at the same time.

For me it's the ever-present threat of layoffs. Everything else I can take.

I've gotten to the point where nearly any other job sounds appealing. I'd stock shelves overnight, work a reception desk, or spend eight hours answering customer complaints if it meant leaving this place. None of those sound particularly exciting, but I'd still take them. That's how badly I want out of here.

Either do it or don't, but keeping us guessing is getting really annoying. I'd like to be able to fully focus on my work, not have to balance between my productivity and worrying about the proverbial axe above my head all the time.

Thumbs up if you're feeling confident / satisfied or just positive about your current job/RnRs / work-life balance

Thumbs down if you're worried about losing your job/ reorg / politics / burnout / or just feeling unmotivated.

A lot of prior ones were heavily weighted to early career employees with less than 10 years.

It seems like now a lot of mid career employees with 10-25 years are seeing opportunities shrink and are voting with their feet. Lots of very highly regarded employees and high performers don't see a future with EM. Most who leave do extremely well elsewhere.

Bumped from @bz+1m197mkb2.

Research estimates vary, suggesting 8–12% of CEOs may be highly narcissistic, while many others display milder traits along a spectrum.

Below is a URL to a recent article that goes into detail as research done on CEOs who exhibit narcissistic traits.

Article Published 9/7/2026:

https://thebalance.clinic/resources/mental-health/narcissism/ceos-and-narcissism/

You too?

Now that WF is moving to bi-monthly pay periods starting 2027, how would layoff schedule will change?

I've been here for many years. I do my job well. Not "above and beyond." Not "wearing 17 hats." I mean I do the job I'm actually paid to do.

In all my years here, I've seen exactly ONE person on my team get promoted. And, they have a different job title than me. My reward for sticking around and doing my job? Same performance review every year, bonus and tiny raise. Rinse and repeat.

So at this point, I've accepted that employment here is a transaction. I sell my time and skills, they give me a paycheck and benefits. Pretty straightforward.

I don't see a promotion in my future, so I'm not really sure why I'd voluntarily take on a bunch of responsibilities outside my job description for the privilege of... getting even more responsibilities.

What I find hilarious is watching some people on my team immediately volunteer for literally anything leadership throws at them. "Can you take this on?" Absolutely. "Can you also do this other person's job?" Sure. "Can you work on this project that's completely unrelated to your role?" Of course. "Can you stay late?" Where do I sign?

And then somehow everyone acts surprised when those extra responsibilities become permanent.

A lot of these people are older, so I've genuinely wondered if this is generational. Maybe they were raised with the idea that you work hard, prove yourself, and eventually the company recognizes your loyalty.

Meanwhile, my millennial brain is sitting here thinking: You want me to do a different job? Cool. What's the new job title and compensation?

Because I've watched enough Truist "career development" to understand that "great visibility" and "opportunity to grow" are sometimes just Truist corporate-speak for congratulations, you now have more work.

Maybe I'm cynical. Maybe I'm transactional. Or maybe I've just figured out that doing 30% more work for 0% more money isn't actually a promotion.

Curious what others think. Are people from different generations really approaching work differently, or are some of us simply less willing to donate our labor outside our job description to Truist?

Why is Fiserv covering a petting zoo and trunk or treating at the only site that gets to WFH 50% of the time while us at other sites get nothing to be here 100% of the time?

It’s funny how the primary task of a “technology” manager or “senior” manager is to monitor and manage the attendance of other adults. It’s like being in school and the teacher marking attendance of all the kids. Except the kids here are 40 year olds. Directors senior directors and VPs doing the same, asking devs to update some values in excel files, database columns and loosely using the term “AI” to appear current. All while half their team members are sitting remote, not attending meetings, and always appearing away. How about you manage their “attendance” ?

Just returned from vacation to find that the long awaited enhanced package has arrived. I don't see a bridge to Medicare in this offer. I guess I'll be staying for the four guaranteed years of the latest contract extension. I guess the company wants a bunch of sixty four year old semi disabled people on their payroll.

I hate what Teradata has become, expecting us to work 12-14 hour days to meet unrealistic expectations.. we can’t sleep, we can’t eat, we can’t spend time with our families. There is no work-life balance here

what is the escalation protocol and consequence model for not complying totally with WPE rules? e.g. through the end of the year I already know/am planning to not be compliant (remote for week of thanksgiving, remote for week of Columbus day, some back to back remote days here or there) and I want to 'run this risk' in a somewhat smart way. what is guidance for managers to handle someone like me? top performer, only one in my role for the group, etc.

If working here has made you miserable, maybe staying isn't helping you or anyone around you. Constant negativity has a way of spreading through a team.

Give someone impossible workloads, constant criticism, and no sense of security. Keep it going long enough and even a happy person will start dreading work and consider quitting.

the world is moving so fast, especially at AI? why work for a wireless company who claimed they can do a PC. Look what the FU.

Source: C. Simpson

Plenty of leaders point to an open door, a caring one-on-one, and a policy that says people can come to them with anything.

But none of that tells you what happens when someone is genuinely struggling.

What someone experiences when things go wrong tells you more about your support
than anything you say when things are going fine.

A lot of leaders never find this out until it is too late.

So here is what that looks like, so you can spot it in your own team before it costs you someone good:

1️⃣ You say your door is always open.

→ But people only come to you with good news.
→ You have built a culture where problems get hidden until they are too big to fix easily.

2️⃣ You say people can come to you with anything.

→ But the last person who did got told to figure it out themselves.
→ You have taught your team that asking for help costs more than it is worth.

3️⃣ You say work-life balance matters.

→ But you answer emails at 1 am and reply fastest to whoever works the latest.
→ You have shown your team that visibility matters more than boundaries.

The gap between what you say and what your team experiences day to day
is the truest measure of how supported they feel.

Close that gap, and everything changes.

Because a lot of retention problems come down to people feeling alone in the workload, instead of the workload itself.

To genuinely support your team, provide:

✅ Someone who notices before they have to ask.
✅ Permission to say "I'm behind" without it costing them.
✅ Coverage when life happens, instead of just when it is convenient.
✅ A leader who has their back before they need to ask for it.
✅ Feedback that helps them grow and challenge their thinking.
✅ Time protected, as well as time offered.

Get that right, and people stop looking for the exit and start staying on purpose.

I'm trying to figure out if it's just my group or it really is the entire company. I was forwarded an email from an entry level manager and the PDF attached claims to be company wide, but I didn't see an email from Bryan or anything. Just wondering if anyone else saw the original request. I'm not really setup to do this all the time, and will need to change my whole office to make it practical. Also not super excited about having to dress up and put makeup on every morning for no reason.

For anyone who's completely burned out, here's something I've learned. You can push back on some of the nonsense and the sky doesn't immediately fall. A lot of managers aren't going to fire someone who is still carrying a big part of the workload. If you're already expecting cuts, there isn't much reason to destroy yourself trying to please everyone.

Nonstop and credit cards. What a disgrace. Sales down, down, down. Hmmmmm wonder why that would be.